Institute for Telecommunication Sciences / August 1957

August 1957: CRPL Hosts URSI Boulder, CO

The International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) was formed in 1919 to promote radio science, coordinate international research, and facilitate radio measurement and standards. The first General Assembly of URSI was held in Geneva in 1922. The second General Assembly was held in Washington in 1927, and John Howard Dellinger, Chief of what was then the Radio Communication Section of the National Bureau of Standards, had a prominent role in organizing it. In 1957, the twelfth General Assembly was held in Boulder, CO, for the first time. Five hundred delegates and their families descended on Boulder for the meeting, which began on August 22, 1957. Delegates representing 22 countries arrived to share research results and plan for the future of radio science and the future of the organization. Dellinger, by then the retired Chief of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) and Honorary URSI President, chaired the General Arrangements Committee and 30 CRPL staff members served on other organizing committees. CRPL had a long standing relationship with URSI and many CRPL staff were affiliated with the group as voting delegates. Today, the U.S. National Committee for URSI (USNC) manages the United States’ participation in URSI on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences. USNC regularly organizes its annual National Radio Science Meeting (NRSM) in Boulder, hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder, and ITS experts continue to present at and participate in the NRSM.